Three Judges Just Dared SCOTUS to Say What It Really Thinks About Black Voting Rights

Jurisprudence

May 26, 20263:55 PM

Alabama’s blatantly racist illegal actions compelled the panel to reach its repeated rulings.

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, Getty Images Plus, and supremecourt.gov.

A federal court in Alabama on Tuesday ruled, yet again, that the state had illegally discriminated against Black voters in drawing its congressional map. The decision, issued by a three-judge district court that included two Donald Trump appointees, comes after the Supreme Court had sprinted to side with Alabama Republicans two weeks ago in light of its debilitation of the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais. This right-leaning lower court’s thundering, exasperated decision shows just how obvious Alabama’s Jim Crow–style discrimination has been over the past few years. And it will force SCOTUS to either draw the line at overtly racist gerrymandering or admit that it has declared open season on Black Americans’ political representation.